Saturday, 26 March 2011

I’ve had not one, not two, not even three, but four lovely presents in the last few weeks. Firstly the lovely Beverley of Miss Creativity sent me a lovely letter and little Easter parcel full of buttons, dolly pegs and cords. All the goodies are fab for creative projects, thanks again Beverley!

I also received this lovely giveaway parcel from Jenny at Winnibriggs House. It was really exciting as I’ve never won a giveaway before! The theme of sea birds was lovely and really original and there were some great crafting goodies, such as the appliqués and needle case. Thank you Jenny!

I’ve been super lucky these past few weeks and won another giveaway, this time from Alison at Gingercat. I hadn’t seen a picture of what was in the giveaway so it was super exciting ripping open all the paper. You can see Lily in the pics looming over my goodies wanting to have a good nose. I loved everything in the parcel, especially the note cards and Cath K notebook and buttons! I'm torn as to what to do with the buttons as they look so pretty on their card, but they'd also look fab on my black cardi. There were milk chocolate praline ducks in the parcel but they disappeared very quickly, as have the white chocolate ones now. Yum yum. Thank you Alison!

Last but certainly not least, my Mum treated me to these OPI top coat and base coat varnishes. I’ve had some before but ran out, and they’re super quality. Thanks Mum!

I spent yesterday working hard in the sunshine cleaning the car, mowing the lawn and potting and watering plants. Now I’m off to have a bath and pamper ready for a night out tonight; A meal out with the bestest, or we might go to a charity do at a local club. Choices choices. Tomorrow is set aside for carbooting and my weekly blog reading session. Lovely. Have a great weekend all,

Friday, 25 March 2011

I’m really flattered in having received two blog awards recently. Firstly the Stylish Blogger Award from Sugarplum Kawaii, and secondly the Liebster Blog award, which ‘recognises smaller blogs with under 300 followers’ from Victoria at Florence & Mary! Thank you so much ladies! I may have taken forever and a day to post about them but I really do appreciate them!

As part of the Stylish Blogger Award I need to tell you seven things about myself, and then pass this onto some fellow bloggers. However, I can't pick my favourite Stylish Blogs out of the many fab ones I read, and I also know that many of you have already received this award so I'm passing it onto everyone who would like to receive it. I’ve been trying to think of seven things about me and I have to admit it’s been a struggle, because I think I’ve probably already told you lots about me through my blog and other Stylish Blogger Awards (Best try not to get too big headed eh). Anyway, here goes;

1) I love cherry blossom trees and at the moment they’re in bloom all over the place sprinkling the roads with pretty confetti like leaves. I have a small cherry blossom tree in my garden that was a moving in present, but I don’t think it’s going to bloom this year as it’s still quite new.

2) I’m extremely British about queues and was taught by my Mum, Nan and Aunt to tell people off if they try to queue jump, even if they are older then me. It’s amazing how many people do try to queue jump…’the queue’s back there, you’re no different to the rest of us’ grrrr. I’m again very Britishly horrified when I go abroad and people don’t queue??? A queue makes perfect and reasonable sense to me. My friends and I, along with some other disgruntled Brits, once abandoned Burger King at a Spanish/Ibiza (can’t remember which) airport because not only did the staff not understand the concept of ‘fast food’ (they were all stood about talking when there were over 20 people top serve) but no one was queuing, it was a total free for all and nearly sent me into a panic attack!

3) I love sunshine but don’t particularly like heat…yes I know that’s a total contradiction in itself. It might be the fact that I come out in horrid prickly heat in hot weather, but I’m never sure whether to blame this on the sun, or the heat, or both. If I go away to a hot country I have to take antihistamines for three days before I go and then every day while I’m there. I should really just holiday in Iceland or something, but I remain determined to get a tan. The antihistamines make me really sleepy, even the non drowsy ones, so sleeping in the sun and doing not much else is my kinda holiday.

4) I’d love to be able to draw. I’d say I’m relatively creative, but I really struggle to put my ideas into action and honestly can’t draw anything but stick men. It’s a bit embarrassing looking back at my school tea towel printed with everyone’s drawing of themselves. All the girl’s drawings were generally really good, but mine was on par with the less skilled male drawers. My Mum and Nan still laugh at it. Apparently I can blame it on my dyspraxia though.

5) I wear lots of black, not just because it’s slimming, but because I just really like it. The little girls in my close asked ‘did you get a black dog because you wear lots of black?’. This probably should have been a wake up call to start wandering about in garish colours.

6) I used to collect elephants and had hundreds of them. Not real ones obviously, just anything decorative that was an elephant or had and elephant on it. I sodl them all at a carboot sale years ago and they’re obviously very popular to collect as people bought them by the box load. I have kept a few favourite ones and also some that although not my favourite, I kind of feel sorry for. Strange I know. It’s the same reason that my mum has a circle of Cabbage Patch dolls sitting in a spooky circle in her loft. When she sees one in a charity shop she thinks they look lonely and need to live with other Cabbage Patch Kids.

I found this pic on google images but have one exactly the same. It's a string dispenser.

7) I’m totally rubbish at saving and when I have money in my purse I just have to spend it. I kind of actively look for ways to get rid of it, and unfortunately this also seems to be the case with my credit card. If there’s a balance on there then it needs to be spent on something. I’m trying to mend my ways but it’s soooo hard when it doesn’t come naturally to you. One of my cousins is the same as me and spends money before she even has it, but her sister is super tight. Not with others thought strangely. She spends lots on others but won’t spend money on herself. I taught them to play Monopoly once when looking after them and Ellie had spent all of her cash within one trip around the board. Emma on the other hand, aged about 5 at the time, had the option of paying to get out of jail/buying Ellie’s get out of jail free card (depending on which rules you play buy) and decided that ‘it seemed a bit expensive and she’d rather stay in jail’ .

All of the image were found on google images as my camera battery's playig up at the moment. For this same reason I haven't been able to blog about the two gorgeous give away parcels I received this week! Fingers crossed the camera will be playing ball tomorrow after being charger for a hundred million hours. Have a good weekend everyone...more sunshine I hope xxx

Sunday, 20 March 2011

My Mum and I had a fabulous time at yesterday's vintage fair catching up with other bloggers and stallholders and meeting lots of new people, including a very sleepy pug/spaniel cross called Jet. Jo of Hesta and the Pugs gave him a big cuddle and I thought she might bundle him into one of her beautiful vintage eiderdowns and take him home. ﻿

These beautiful boys had to come home with me. One bought from Ann of Vintage at the Cornerhouse and the other from Vicki of Ticklepenny Vintage

I love this jewel like button hairclip from Vicky Loves Vintage & the cute red earrings from Elsie Sparrow

Sharon of Clover Cottage, who usually has a stall at the fair, came along as a buyer and designated photographer. I hope she doesn't mind but I've pinched a photo of my stall from her blog. I always forget to take pics as the minute everyone starts setting out their beautiful wares I'm off and wandering.
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My stall. Ann snapped up the vintage Marks & Spencer's child's till

My Mum and I sampled the delicious tea and cakes and my Nan and Grandad travelled from Worcestershire to come to the fair. My Mum and Nan left with lots of purchases and I managed to be sensible in only buying a few bits and pieces. I had my eye on Wend's pink art deco tea pot but restrained myself from buying it and it was snapped up early on by another admirer of candy coloured utility china.

Delicious looking knitted liqourice from the lovely Carol of Saracarol Makes. Carol was really kind and gave me the beautiful hand felted brooch as a gift.

Jo of Hesta & the Pugs and my Mum found they both had a love of 'lowering the tone' and had a fine old time cracking wicked jokes at every opportunity. Jo very kindly gave me a vintage Union Jack flag after me saying how much I wanted one for my stall to tie in with the Blighty theme. She has an enviably collection of them and the one she gave to me will be taking pride of place on my stall at the next fair.

Time flies when you're having fun, as they say, and I was a suprised when it was suddenly time to pack up.

A slection of vintage postcards bought from Ticklepenny Vintage

﻿Ann and Trevor did a fantastic job of organising the fair, with beautiful bunting both inside and outside the venue, and I'm really looking forward to the next fair in May!

Friday, 18 March 2011

The picture above my bed is an oriental style painting bought from a carboot years ago for £10. I loved the blossom, the birds and the green background colour and stowed it away in my mum's loft for years until I moved out. I have hanging hearts on each side of my bed; the ones to the left were from a blog swap, the ones to the right are mirrored Gisela Graham hearts.

I love bed's that are made up in a 'traditional' way and my friends always moan when they stay that they feel 'suffocated by the amount of layers'. My Nan taught me how to make a 'proper' bed and I love it. I don't know how anybody can sleep with just a duvet.

I have;

*A fitted cotton sheet, flat top sheet. Both 100% cotton of percale if I can get it. I'm funny about textures.

*A thin traditional style quilt. You can just see it at the end of the bed after the pink candlewick. The one on my bed in the pic is Cath K for Ikea and was a gift from my Nan. It's a lovely double sided thin quilt with polka dots on one side and paisley on the other.

*Then a low tog 'summer' duvet. The cover in the pic is Cath Kidston's Rosali for Ikea and so are the pillow on the bed. The polka dot pillow is Cath Kidston and was quite cheap from eBay and the God Save the Queen cushion was from the Windsor Castle gift shop. I fell in love with it and walked around the shop with it for about 20 mins before deciding I couldn't afford it...and then my lovely Nan bought it for me.

* Last but not least is my pink candlewick blanket, draped over the bottom of the bed in case I get cold in the night. It was about £4 from a charity shop and Lily loves it. She's always getting told off for 'digging' it to make herself a nice bed.

I suppose that it a lotta layers, but I feel super snug at night.

One one side of the bed is a Lloyd loom bedside table my mum spruced up with a bit of paint, Cath Kidston for Ikea Rosali Fabric in blue and some floral ric rac. I love this dressing table set and after taking it to a vintage fair with me, was quite glad it didn't sell as it now houses bits and bobs of vintage jewellery and catches the light beautifully.

On my side of the bed are a stack of vintage suitcases acting as a bedside table. They're also really useful storage; one houses winter hats, gloves and scarfs and the other two are full of sentimental letters, postcards and bits and pieces. On top of the cases are my 'a bit too modern' lamp (It's too practical to get rid off as it's one of those that come on with a touch, saving you from searching for the switch) and a wicker basket full of sleep masks, phone charger and my current book. My ELC 'Tell the Time Clock is tucked at the side of my bed to help me work out what time I need to be up in the morning (my regular blog readers will know it's because I have Aspergers and 'don't do numbers').

This handmade noticeboard was around £15 from eBay and now houses all my brooches and pins.

You can never have enough storage, which to means you can never have too many vintage suitcases. These sit on top of my Ikea wardrobe and are full of summer clothes and clothes that I'm 'slimming into'. The little teddy bear in his 'I heart Elvis' jumper was a present from my Dad from Graceland and plays 'let me be your teddy bear'. The suitcases and vanity cases were all between 50p and a few pounds from charity shops and carboots, except the leopard print one.

The Antler leopard print suitcase is one of my favourite items and was £50 from eBay. When I saw it on eBay I just had to have it but was at uni at the time and had less than £20 in my account (having been shopping in Birmingham the week before). My lovely housemate lent me the £50 because she knew how much I loved it and agreed 'you have to have it'. Matching weekend cases pop up once in a blue moon on eBay but I haven't been lucky enough to win one yet. The linings a beautiful dusky pink stain and I feel all warm inside every time I look at it. I'm a sucker for leopard print and the case to me just screams glamour.

I saw this tallboy outside a charity shop in Rugby when out and about with my mum. We pulled over and I snapped it up for £10. We then couldn't fit it in the car and my poor step dad had to come and get it. It was originally a dark wood colour but I knew it'd look fab in contrasting cream and baby pink, making the pretty plastic cream handles stand out. My step dad painted it for me and kept asking 'are you sure on these colours' but was amazed how good it looked when he'd finished it.

On top of the tallboy sit vintage plates and bowls full of earrings, a vintage vanity case full of vintage neck scarves and an Ikea Christmas bauble holder that holds my bangles. Just above all of this is a beautiful 1940s advert taken from one of my duplicate Woman's Illustrated magazines. The frame is Ikea.

More vintage adverts from the same magazine hang above my dressing table. I specifically chose ones that advertised hair, makeup or fragrance items.

I love antique french style of my 80s dressing table. These were going for a ridiculous £400 to £500 on eBay when I was overjoyed when I stumbled upon this listed as simply 'old dressing table'. The bad listing meant that it was only me and another bidder after it and I 'won' it for around £200. More than I'd normally pay for something but I wanted it and that was that. My mum and step dad very kindly ventured to Wales to collect it for me. I then covered the stool in Ikea Rosali fabric. At the time I didn't have the Ikea bedspread so I didn't intend to be over run with Rosali, it just sort of happened.

To the left of it is this old key cabinet bought from a carboot sale for £10 years ago. I recently painted it this cream colour as the wood was really dark. It's got a great used look to it and houses all my jewellery perfectly. I have to all my things on show because otherwise I don't know what I've got. My friend's think this means my house looks like the 'Shop of Amy'. On top of the cabinet sits vintage perfume bottles, some from carboots, some gifts from my mum and the white one from my great Nan's house. It's Avon and came up beautifully with a good soak in some fairy liquid.

One the other side of my dressing table are these small shelves with a collection of hats, hair bits and fascinators. The one of the mannequin is a vintage cloche bought from the lovely Vintage Vixen.
On the lower shelf are vintage manicure sets and some vintage sewing kits and buckles. All pounds from carboots and charity shops.

Ive just realised how very long this post is, sorry if I've bored you all to death! Right I'm off to carry on with final preparations for tomorrow's vintage fair. xxx

Sunday, 13 March 2011

Excuse the lack of pictures in this post, I've just gone to use my camera and it's out of battery so that's that. I hope everybody's had a lovely week and weekend. I'v been busy working an extra day at work, visiting my friend in her new house and running very boring errands in an attempt to downsize my 'To Do List'. I've also been super productive today and not only priced and packed up all of my Vintage Fair stuff, but also sorted out my wardrobe, chest of drawers, under bed drawers and the vintage suitcases on top of my wardrobe. I hadn't realised quite how many clothes I'd saved over the years 'for when I'm slimmer' and have spent hours trying stuff on to see what now fits me and what really needs to go into tip/carboot sale/ ebay piles. I was suprised by how much fitted me and I've just loaded a massive basket of ironing into the car ready to take to my aunt's. Dyspraxia + an iron isn't the best of combinations so I have a good excuse for avoiding doing my own ironing.

I'm rocking the geek chic look today, although not so much the 'chic'. When I'm doing stuff around the house I don't see the point of getting out of my pjs so I'm currently wearing a black vest top, multicoloured men's Spider Man pj bottoms, bed socks and an oversized vintage style arran knit cardi. This would be fine if I hadn't ventured out to the car and bumped into my neighbours and all the kids playing in the street. It would probably also be fine if I hadn't broken the arm off my spare pair of glasses (my other pair having broken ages ago) and be walking around with one sided glasses on. To make it even worse I was well aware that I looked retarded venturing to the car in the said outfit AND broken glasses, so I took my glasses off and put them in my pocket, only to have to fumble for them and put them back on when I couldn't see well enough to find the right key for the car. Hmm, all in all a productive day.

These will be arriving on Friday (Gok Wan for Specsavers), plus a free Wayfarer/geek stye pair

I still haven't caught up with everyone's blogs so please excuse my lack of comments. I've been in bed by 7.30/8 every night this week and even shipped Lil's off to my mum's for the week. I'm now being good and taking my vitamins and am really looking forward to seeing some of my fellow bloggers at the Vintage Fair on Saturday. I should really have an early night tonight but it's the final episode in this series of Being Human! I think if I did go to bed early then I wouldn't be able to sleep with the sheer excitement of knowing it was on TV and I was missing it. Right, decision made. I'm gona jump in the shower now, put fresh pjs on, and stay up to watch it! What an exciting life I lead....xxx

Sunday, 6 March 2011

I have been so busy lately that I've been quite neglectful of my blog, so here are my very late February Makes. I made a mountain of cards using vintage fuzzy felt, 1950s Noddy Snap Cards and a 1950s children's board games. These will be coming with me to the Northampton Vintage & Homemade Fair on the 19th March.

I also made some envelopes from a 1950s School Atlas I picked up in a charity shop. I love the colours and the texture of the paper is lovely.

I went to a jumble sale yesterday (pics as soon as I've cleared the mountain of Vintage Fair things in my craft room) and bought a few bits and bobs on a charity shop jaunt the other week. I picked up a gorgeous 80s wool M&S sailor style coat and I'll post pics as soon as it's washed.

I love the 'grandad' brown leather buttons

I tried to squeeze my feet into these like an ugly sister but to no avail. They'll be coming to the Vintage & Homemade Fair

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I love the alcohol advertisements in this men's magazine

﻿ I did a rough 'mock up' of my stall for the Vintage & Homemade Fair to help me decide what to take. Here are a few pics of what I'll be taking.

Excuse the terrible pictures, the sun's so lovely and bright that it's making taking pictures impossible.
Now all I need to do is wrap everything in mountains of bubble wrap and stow it away in my vintage laundry hamper. It has wheels attached so I can get it up and down the wheelchair ramp on my mum's car and saves me carrying too much stuff. Once all that's done and I've moved everything out of my hall (I'm having it decorated tomorrow) I'm looking forward to curling up on the sofa in my oversized arran cardie and catching up with everyone's blogs.

I hope you all have a lovely week and I'm going to leave you with a burst of sunshine...oh how I love daffodil season x